A Senate primary race in Texas is shaping up to be a savage proxy war between MAGA diehards and the Republican establishment.
Sen. John Cornyn, 73—a fixture of Texas politics who’s wrapping up his fourth term in Congress—is facing a challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 62, a firebrand with a penchant for controversy.
Both men are dueling for an endorsement from President Donald Trump, who has so far kept mum on the matter.
Just two days after Paxton—who had teased a run for weeks—officially announced his candidacy, things are already getting ugly, and the MAGAverse is quickly rallying behind the challenger.
Influential far-right commentator and activist Charlie Kirk had Paxton on his podcast Wednesday, and both men went after Cornyn for, as Kirk put it, his “questionable votes.” The senator broke with Trump’s platform to support aid for Ukraine and a bipartisan gun reform bill in the wake of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
In announcing his run, Paxton, who has disparaged Cornyn as a “Republican in name only,” accused the congressman of “betraying” Trump.
For years, John Cornyn has betrayed President Trump and the America First movement. Texas deserves better, and that’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate.Join me in the fight: https://t.co/rQl0P2UnWU pic.twitter.com/WP1g8vbXi0
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) April 9, 2025
Kirk argued that Paxton’s challenge was valuable because “a warning shot is necessary to make sure the uniparty is put on defense.”
Meanwhile, MAGA media heavyweight Steve Bannon told Axios that he also plans to have Paxton on his show. He jabbed Cornyn as the “epitome of the establishment.”
“It’s the Cornyn-Bush faction, the business community that runs Texas versus the grassroots, MAGA, Trump base,” Bannon added.
Paxton has also scored a ringing endorsement from ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fellow MAGA firebrand who lost his seat when he was briefly Trump’s pick for attorney general but dropped amid accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor, which Gaetz denied.
Even before Paxton announced, Cornyn had been pushing hard to show his alignment with the president. He released a campaign video last month declaring himself a “battle-tested” “partner” of Trump’s. Cornyn even went as far as to post a photo of himself reading Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal, with the caption “recommended.”
Recommended pic.twitter.com/l6o9pwJr5J
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 20, 2025
Paxton suggested to Kirk that this effort was just a posture to secure his seat. He claimed that Cornyn is “going to be a good boy for the next year and a half, and then he’ll go back to being what he is, which is a moderate.”
Since Paxton’s challenge became official, Cornyn has started to pull out the knives.
“Obviously, Mr. Paxton has a checkered past,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “He is a con man and a fraud, and I think the people of Texas know that. This is what will be litigated over the course of this campaign.”
Paxton, like Trump, survived an impeachment trial. The scandal, which was a civil war for Texas Republicans, saw the attorney general accused of abusing the power of his office to benefit a real estate developer. In September 2023, however, he was acquitted by the state senate.
Cornyn has conceded that an endorsement from Trump could prove crucial for deciding the race, but he said that he isn’t worried.
“I have a very good relationship; look forward to supporting him and his agenda as I always have,” he told CNN earlier this week, before Paxton announced. He added that he believes the president will issue an endorsement “when he’s ready.”
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